


Mightier Than The Sword

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Number The Stars [31]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Thoughtcrimes (2003)
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-08-08 21:31:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7774459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Thoughtcrimes/Stargate Atlantis/Numb3rs, Freya McAllister, she hadn't been much of a reader before she was institutionalized, but while she had been there it had been one of the few things which kept the voices out, and after learning to control her ability it was both a cherished hobby and a security blanket."</p><p>Freya keeps a book on her at all times, Rory Gilmore style, and so does Brendan, but in a very different style.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mightier Than The Sword

Aiden stared at Freya. "Are you serious?"  
  
"What? They didn't take it from me. It's four hours till we're overdue for check-in, and then at least half an hour's hike from the gate for whoever Elizabeth sends - probably Stackhouse's team. We know we're not getting out, unless you have some kind of genius plan. So I'm reading." Freya had pocket-sized versions of all the classics. Books like Shakespeare, Dickens, Trollope, or the King James Version of the Holy Bible were the best for blocking out voices when she was too tired to maintain active shields. But mostly she liked reading, and she knew it was a little Rory Gilmore-esque, to always carry a book with her, even when they went off-world, but it made her feel better. Knowing she had a book was knowing she was safe from herself, from the voices all around her. Today's selection was The Hobbit. Even though she was living in a floating alien city in another galaxy, she still liked fantasy books.  
  
"I always thought that lump in your pocket was extra C4," Aiden said.  
  
"Who do you think I am, Markham?" Freya shook her head. "No. It's a book."  
  
"Does Sheppard know you carry a book?"  
  
"Shep buys them for me," Freya said. She reached out with her mind, sensed Brendan and Teyla in the next cell over.  
  
"Well," Aiden said, "if we're going to be stuck here for the next four hours with no hope of escape and you're going to be boring and read and not play cards with me, the least you could do is entertain me."  
  
Aiden had yet to learn that playing cards against Freya was a poor choice, and not because she could read minds (which he didn't know anyway).  
  
"Fair enough." Freya flipped back to the beginning of the book and cleared her throat, and she began to read.  
  
They were halfway through the first chapter when the theme song from Scooby Doo burst upon her, a signal from Brendan. Freya tucked the little silk bookmark into place, closed the book, and tucked it back into her tac vest. The natives had been smart enough to take their weapons and C4 and kind enough to leave their food, books, and cards.  
  
"Hey now," Aiden protested, but Freya rose up to her feet, stretched her cramped limbs.  
  
"So," she said, "I think we might be getting out of here early."  
  
"What makes you say that?"  
  
"You know Shep keeps a book in his tac vest too?"  
  
"He really is a geek with a gun," Aiden muttered.  
  
"His book is filled with C4."  
  
Aiden's eyes went wide, and an explosion rocked the jail.  
  
The door fell off its hinges a moment later.  
  
"Let's go," Freya said. She dashed out of the cell, met Teyla and Brendan in the hallway, and they charged the guard room, managed to get most of their weapons and their GDOs back.  
  
And they ran for the gate.  
  
While they hunkered down at the DHD, Freya dialing Atlantis, the others laying down cover fire, Freya asked,   
  
"What is it today?"  
  
"Shakespeare's sonnets," Brendan said.  
  
"That's blasphemy," Freya said.  
  
Brendan patted one of the pockets on his tac vest fondly. "Blasphemy would have been the Ramayana."  
  
Freya slugged him on the arm and made a mental note to buy him a copy of the Analects of Confucius, and then they were running through the gate, and they were home.


End file.
